A watchdog group has contacted the Jefferson County District Attorney's office claiming that David Bradley, Beaumont's representative on the State Board of Education, has broken election laws in his bid for re-election.

Bradley, who faces a challenge in District 7 from Rita Ashley of Beaumont, says he's done nothing wrong in his campaign fundraising.

Dan Quinn, a spokesman for Texas Freedom Network, which describes itself on its Web page as a nonpartisan public education organization based in Austin, claims that Bradley was in the wrong when he had David Barton, head of a political advocacy group called WallBuilders, as a featured speaker at two recent fundraisers in Beaumont and Houston.

Barton has co-authored history textbooks and published other instructional materials that the State Board of Education could vote to allow for use in Texas classrooms.

Quinn said publishers are prohibited from helping or indirectly helping raise money for campaigns. The organization has sent its complaint to both the Jefferson and Harris county district attorney's offices.

An attorney at the Jefferson County office said he had not seen the complaint and other attorneys were unavailable for comment.

"Clearly, we think this raises serious legal questions about Mr. Bradley's fundraising and Mr. Barton's participation in it," said Texas Freedom Network president Kathy Miller. "But it also rings alarm bells about potential cronyism and highlights how big a role politics plays in decisions about what textbooks our kids use in their schools. This isn't just a technicality. We shouldn't have people who are involved in creating and selling instructional materials also raising money for candidates for a state board that decides which materials will be sold to schools."

Bradley said the organization's claims are "inaccurate."

"The state doesn't buy anything from him (Barton)," Bradley said. "He's not a vendor. He's never brought anything to the State Board of Education for adoption or funding."

Bradley said he brought Barton in to be a part of his campaign because "he's popular, he attracts people and we agree on things."

"He has the right to stand in the public square and voice his opinion for the candidate of his choosing," Bradley added.